By Mark Hemingway

“The Arizona laws are not a mistake,” said Sanchez, D-Lakewood, referring to Arizona’s S.B. 1070, that requires police enforcing another law to question a person about his or her immigration status if there is “reasonable suspicion” that the person is in the United States illegally and makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.

“They’re not accidental or one person’s crazy idea,” she said of the law. “There’s a concerted effort behind promoting these kinds of laws on a state-by-state basis by people who have ties to white supremacy groups,” Sanchez said.

“It’s been documented. It’s not mainstream politics. (Legislators) are being approached by folks who are front organizations for white supremacist hate groups. They propose the language of these bills and get people to carry these bills in the state legislatures,” she said. ...